I had to negotiate hard to get these 3 croissants for free from a 5-star hotel in Penang.
I was with my team a couple of weeks ago for a conference in a 5-star hotel in Penang that shall remain nameless (by the sea with a colonial feel). One of them was feeling a bit hypo because she’s been up since 6 am and we’d been working for a few hours and there was strangely no food anywhere in the conference area. Very unlike Malaysia. We went to the hotel restaurant and they were only serving breakfast menu from RM88. I said to the waiter who shall also remain nameless that we just wanted a little bit of pastry each to alas perut.
Initially, he was adamant that there was nothing he could do to help us even though I could see stacks of pastries and cakes behind him. Even though I offered to pay for the pastries, he still said tak boleh. Mesti bayar penuh RM88. I used all the persuasion techniques that I knew. Look him in the eyes, come closer to him, change from English to cakap Melayu and even campur a bit of loghat Penang in. I lowered my ask to only 3 croissants only. Finally he agreed to talk to his manager and tarra then out came the 3 croissants.
Moral of the story is if you never ask, you never get. And when negotiating, never lose your cool. Lose your cool and that’s it end of negotiation. And know what’s the minimum that you want.
I wanted 3 croissants and I got it.
